CARDINALS

Cards aim to close gap between offense, defense

Jeff Greer

@jeffgreer_cj

Atlantic Coast Conference play has begun for the University of Louisville basketball team, and the Cardinals brought some of their halfcourt offensive struggles with them.

Wednesday's 58-52 Louisville win over Clemson once again put on full display the Cardinals' problems with scoring when they aren't in transition. The slugfest also widened the statistical chasm between U of L's top-level defense and its middling offense.

Louisville (14-1) ranks second in the nation in defensive efficiency, a mark of the Cardinals' hellacious fullcourt pressure and their ability to create turnovers and contest shots. Louisville ranks 66th in offensive efficiency, which calculates a team's points scored per 100 possessions.

Only three other teams in the AP top 25 — Notre Dame, Old Dominion and Arkansas — have larger differences in offensive and defensive efficiency rankings than U of L.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said Wednesday that his team has to figure out how to adjust to contrasting styles of defense. That's the only way the Cards can close the gap between its offensive and defensive performances.

"These guys want to get up and down — they want to play," Pitino said, referring to his athletes.

"You want to run? North Carolina will be more than happy to accommodate you. Duke will be more than happy to accommodate you. (But) certain teams aren't going to do that."

The Cards rank ninth in the nation in 2-point field-goal defense and 24th in 3-point defense. They nab steals on 15 percent of their opponents' possessions — a figure that ranks Louisville fourth in Division I hoops — and they block a shot on 16.4 percent of their defensive possessions, which ranks eighth.

The list could keep going. Nearly every statistical category includes Louisville among the nation's best, with the exception of defensive rebounding, which is more toward the middle of the pack.

That's how the Cardinals win a lot regardless of playing style. They've won up-and-down games against Minnesota, Indiana and Wake Forest, and they've won knock-down, drag-out affairs against Cleveland State, Ohio State and Clemson.

Where Louisville gets into trouble, Pitino explained on Wednesday night, is when teams play zone defense, like Clemson, or simply pack their man-to-man defense inside the 3-point line, like Kentucky.

Opponents that try those strategies have good reason for doing so. The Cards shoot 29.5 percent from 3-point range, and only three players on the roster are shooting better than 33 percent from long distance: Walk-on guards David Levitch (4 of 9) and Trent Gilbert (2 of 5) and freshman big man Jaylen Johnson (1 for 1).

"We've been a great zone (offense) team the last two years," Pitino said. "Luke (Hancock) has been a big part of it, but we've gotten the ball inside against the best zone in America, and we're not getting it inside right now.

"We are going to have to make shots and, when (All-American forward Montrezl Harrell) is in the game, then we can throw it in and get some good things."

Making shots, though, has proven difficult. Louisville's primary perimeter players — Chris Jones, Terry Rozier and Wayne Blackshear — are a combined 66 of 213 from 3-point range, which is 30.1 percent.

Jones's theory on Wednesday was that Louisville shoots better away from home. His suspicion goes directly against conventional basketball wisdom, but the numbers back his hunch.

U of L is 64 of 230 from 3-point range in 11 games at the KFC Yum! Center. That's 27.8 percent.

U of L is 27 of 78 from 3-point range in four games away from home. That's 34.6 percent.

"It's going to have to get better," Jones said, shaking his head, "when the big teams like Duke come in here, or Virginia. We have to make shots."

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).

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NO. 5 LOUISVILLE AT NO. 18 NORTH CAROLINA

2 p.m. Saturday, Chapel Hill, N.C.

TV: ESPN Radio: WKRD-790